


Nightmare

by pterawaters



Series: Mr. Sandman [6]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lesbian-and-Dumbass, Established Relationship, Family Drama, Family Feels, Flirting, Moving In Together, Multi, Polyamory, Season/Series 03, Steve Harrington's Scoops Ahoy Uniform, season 3 retelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:47:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21513253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: Summer comes to Hawkins, and so does trouble. Steve breaks away from his parents, gets a job at the mall, and falls face-first into a spy novel. Jonathan and Nancy track down a mystery, and lose track of Steve in the process.
Relationships: Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers/Steve Harrington, Jonathan Byers/Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler
Series: Mr. Sandman [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1527764
Comments: 31
Kudos: 217





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back! It's time for Season 3! Again, I'll be posting a new chapter each day until I run out.
> 
> The Underage tag is used because of explicit content between 17- and 18-year olds.
> 
> I would like to thank several beta readers/discussion partners/cheerleaders: magdalyna, saltysantiago, tresa_cho, and ucanhavemysoup! You guys are awesome!
> 
> Artwork is by me.

**June 1985**

"So how much is that, then?" Steve asked Joyce. "Total?"

"Add those two numbers, sweetie," she told him, pointing to the lines in his checkbook ledger.

Oh. Steve added the numbers and frowned. "I mean, it's like two and a half grand, but that's not going to be enough to get a car and pay for school in the fall."

Joyce sighed. "I can't believe Miller’s is going out of business. They've been there since I was a kid."

"Joanie said there was nothing she could do." Steve folded up his checkbook and stored it in his back pocket. "It was either close the shop now or lose all their retirement money. I can't blame her."

Joyce looked around the empty store and said, "I've only had six customers so far today. I'm afraid the same thing might happen here."

"I could do what my dad wants," Steve said, leaning against the counter. "Go to State in the fall. Leave everybody behind. He'd let me keep the car."

Joyce grabbed Steve by the sides of his face and looked him straight in the eyes. "You do what's right for you, Steven. Even if it's going to be harder. If it's right, it's worth it."

Steve groaned, pulling his face out of Joyce's hands. "I need to find a new job!"

"I heard there's supposed to be some sort of ice cream shop at the new mall," she suggested. "You could do that."

"Should I go do that now?"

Nodding, Joyce came out from behind her counter and pushed him toward the door. "You should go do that now. Oh! And don't forget! Taco night tonight!"

Turning to put his back through the door first, Steve pointed and called back, "You know I'll be there!"

The early June sun was bright, so Steve tipped his shades down onto his nose and headed for his car around the block. Well, technically the car belonged to his dad, but he'd only threatened to take it back a few times over the past year. He hadn't actually demanded it yet.

Graduation was the following week, and like most of his classmates, Steve had his eyes on the future. Unlike most of them, Steve wasn't planning to go to the university that had actually been dumb enough to admit him. Instead, he'd also applied to the county community college, and gotten in. He was staying right here in Hawkins, at least for another year.

As he reached his car, several bikes skidded to a stop beside it. "Hey, Steve," said Dustin, who had Lucas, Max, and Mike all with him. "Wanna come to the arcade with us? Will and Jonathan are already there."

"Sorry, guys. Not this time," Steve told them. I've gotta go get a new job."

"Joanie fired you?" Mike asked.

"Does that mean no more free milkshakes?" Max asked him.

"Hold up," said Lucas. " _You_ got free milkshakes?"

Yeah, no way Steve was getting in the middle of that argument. He threw the gang a salute, got in his car, and drove off. 

~*~

"No, see?" said Karen, holding up a green dress she'd picked from the rack. "I think this is a very nice work outfit."

"It's good," Nancy agreed, smiling brightly. "I know this is just an internship, but do you think they'll let me write anything?"

"I suppose it doesn't hurt to ask." Karen held up another outfit. "Oh, this is cute, too!"

After they'd picked out more than enough clothes, Nancy and her mother toured around the rest of the mall. She saw several familiar faces, but the one she saw leaving the food court was more familiar to her than almost any other.

"Steve!" she called out, raising a hand to wave when he turned toward her.

Smiling, Steve bounded over. "Hey, Nancy! Hey, Mrs. Wheeler!"

"Steven," Nancy's mom said, before turning to Nancy and pointing to a jewelry shop. "I'm just going to go take a look."

Nancy rolled her eyes at the excuse, but she appreciated the respect for her privacy. She asked Steve, "What are you doing here? I thought you were working all day."

"Soda shop's closing," Steve told her, leaning close enough to press a gentle kiss to her cheek. "Came here to get a new job."

"Oh. Wow," Nancy said. This was the first she was hearing about it, but she wasn't surprised. Business after business on the Main street strip had closed over the last few months. "Is it something more 9-to-5? You know, so me and Jonathan can see you sometimes?"

Steve winced. "I didn't think of that."

"We'll make it work," she assured him, giving a kiss to his cheek in turn. "I'll see you at taco night?" 

"Be there or be square," Steve said with a silly waggle of his eyebrows that made Nancy laugh.

She waved him off and joined her mother at the jewelry counter, where they appreciated a very nice silver watch. Nancy made a mental note to help her father buy it for Karen's upcoming birthday. She wondered what her father would do when Nancy went off to college in another year and wasn't around to be the go-between anymore. Everyone in the family knew that Mike would not be a good replacement for that job. Holly was still too young.

Perhaps Ted Wheeler would just have to talk to his wife himself about what she wanted.

~*~

Jonathan pulled the last of the crap out of his locker, noticing that most of the papers left were notes from Steve. They were always unsigned, but Jonathan recognized Steve’s oddly neat handwriting. Most of them just listed a time Steve wanted to meet. Several held mildly pornographic suggestions. One said, “I love you.”

Jonathan kept that one, shoving it into his pocket. He tore up the others and put them in the trash can in the center of the hallway, soon to be buried under Justin Abbott’s candy wrappers and Tina Gillespie’s empty hairspray bottles. 

It was going to be weird, not having Steve around at school next year. He’d been such a non-entity in Jonathan’s life for so long, right up until he started dating Nancy Wheeler. Now he was one of the most important people to Jonathan. It was strange how that happened. 

Jonathan made his way over to Nancy’s locker, where she was talking to Ally. When Ally waved goodbye to Nancy and left, Jonathan asked her, “Ready to go?” 

“Yeah,” she said, taking one last look into her empty locker before closing it. 

They held hands as they left the school, walking past the rest of the stragglers and out into the hot summer air. As they got to Jonathan’s car, he stopped to look back at the school. “It’s weird,” he said.

“What’s weird?” Nancy asked him, waving to someone across the parking lot. 

“It feels like we shouldn’t have to come back here next year, you know? After everything that’s happened. I feel…”

“Over it?” Nancy asked him, to which Jonathan nodded. “Yeah, I’m over it too.”

Later that night, after dropping Nancy off at home, Jonathan had dinner with his family. After bringing the final pizza to the table, he sat down next to Steve. Hopper sat at one end of the table, while his mother sat at the other end. Will and Eleven sat across from Jonathan, filling out the rest of the seats.

It was an odd sort of normal that Jonathan was actually starting to get used to. His mom hadn’t dated much since the divorce, and Jonathan was glad to see her looking this happy. Across from him, El looked content, listening to the way Steve and Joyce chatted, and reacting to their stories with animated facial expressions. She didn’t say much, but that was okay. Neither did Jonathan, most of the time. 

Hopper contributed to the conversation mostly in a series of noises, which made Joyce roll her eyes and huff, but in a way Jonathan could tell was fond. 

Jonathan missed Nancy’s presence, but at least Steve was here with him. He put his left hand palm-up on Steve’s leg under the table. He was shortly rewarded when Steve put his right hand in Jonathan’s effortlessly, without even pausing his story about the basketball game that almost got them to the final state championships. Jonathan had heard the story before, so he wasn’t really paying attention. 

The last day of his Junior year was over. Steve was graduating tomorrow. Jonathan and Nancy were starting their internships at the paper on Monday. Life was moving on, moving forward. 

A sudden sense of dread came over him. How long would it last? How long until something else happened? El had closed the gate, but Jonathan knew too well that monsters from the upside down weren’t the only things that could destroy this happiness. 

What if Steve capitulated to his parents demands and ended up moving away at the end of the summer? What if the wrong person caught Jonathan and Steve holding hands or sleeping in the same bed?

Diagonal from him, Jonathan saw Will set down his piece of pizza and rub the back of his neck. 

What if Will never fully recovered from what had been done to him? What if he stayed steady like this, broken on the inside but pretending to be fine? Jonathan could tell when Will was pretending. He always could, because he did the same. 

Except for Steve and Nancy, no one knew just how often Jonathan had nightmares. They didn’t know how often Jonathan woke up in a cold sweat, how often he goaded Steve, or sometimes Nancy or both of them, into middle-of-the-night-sex, just to make himself feel better. No one else knew how tired Jonathan felt, all the time. 

He put on a smile, said he was fine, and left it at that. And maybe things weren’t _fine_ , but they were getting better. That was good enough for him. 

~*~

Steve took off his cap and gown, leaving them in his room and taking down the sport coat his mother wanted him to wear. He was going to do it today, after dinner. He was going to tell his parents he wasn't going to State. He hated how much his palms started to sweat at the thought.

Dinner was at the country club, and when the waiter sat them down at a table for seven, Steve got confused. He sat next to his mother, asking, "What's going on?"

"We're celebrating with a few friends, Steven," his father said, picking up the wine list and holding it out where he could read it. "Don't worry about it. It'll be fun."

Except Steve did worry about it, because why wouldn't his parents have told him about this earlier? If they knew Steve would have begged off with prior knowledge, they probably would have omitted it. It only took a few minutes for Steve's fears about having dinner with strangers materialized. A man in a fancy business suit approached them, and three women followed. Two of the women were young, one was middle aged, and all of them wore tea-length dresses.

Steve hated that he knew what a tea-length dress looked like.

"Fred!" Called out the man. "So good to see you!" Steve stood up with his parents did, knowing he'd get a dirty look for being rude if he didn't.

The man shook hands with Steve's dad, then moved on to Steve's mother. "This must be Harriet. So nice to meet you. I'm Reggie Walsh. Fred has only nice things to say about you at work."

"Oh, likewise," Harriet said to Reggie, shaking his hand. "This must be your lovely family."

"Yes!” Reggie brought his wife forward. "This is Camilla, and these are our daughters, Heather and Amy. They just graduated today from St. Mary's."

Steve wondered how in the hell he'd missed on first glance the fact that these two sisters were identical twins.

"Congratulations, girls," Fred told them, making sure to shake hands with all the Walshes. "This is our son, Steve. He graduated from Hawkins High."

Steve figured out what this was while he was shaking hands politely with all the newcomers. His parents were trying to set him up. They were trying to set him up with Catholic twins.

Sure, it had been over a year since they'd seen him publicly date a girl. Did they think he needed so much help that they had to get involved? Or was this some sort of test to find out whether or not he was gay? _Christ_.

The conversation at dinner was inane and bored Steve almost to tears. One of the twins liked riding horses, the other was all about taking missionary trips to foreign countries. Steve wondered what they would do if they knew Steve started his day eating out his girlfriend while their boyfriend fucked him. Steve hadn't been to Sunday school in a long time, but he was pretty sure all of that was frowned upon.

Thinking about Nancy and Jonathan just made Steve miss them. He wished it was them sitting across from him instead of these two sisters. Nancy always had something interesting to say, usually about the news, but sometimes about the other stuff. Jonathan made funny little sarcastic comments under his breath. 

After dinner, there were drinks and cigars out on the veranda. Steve declined the cigar Mr. Walsh offered him and took his (soft) drink to the edge of the veranda. He looked out over the perfectly-manicured golf course and wondered if this was going to be the last time he got to see a sight like this. After all, the life he was planning for himself wouldn't make him rich enough to afford _this._ But, he thought it would make him happy. 

One of the twins – fuck him if he could tell which one – came to stand next to Steve. "Hey," she said, with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, my mom is making me bother you. She thinks since we're both going to State next year that we'd have something in common."

She was nice and perfect and lovely. Steve thought in another life he wouldn't mind taking her out and getting to know her. But that life was not this one. There was no way a delicate girl like her, so proper and polite, could handle the fact that Steve still had nightmares at least once a week. That sometimes he could get a little violent while he was coming out of them. 

Turning toward her, Steve said, "I'm sure you're really nice and everything, but I'm seeing someone. Sorry."

She looked confused. "Your parents don't know?"

"They don't approve."

Making a saddened noise, she asked, "What's her name?"

Steve didn't miss the way she assumed his "someone" was a girl. Luckily, Steve was, in fact, dating a girl. "Nancy."

"That's a pretty name," she said, leaning on the veranda railing next to Steve, looking out over the same patch of grass and trees.

"Yeah," he agreed. "It is."

It was almost dark by the time Steve's parents agreed to pack it in. The ride home was quiet, and Steve brushed off the few questions his parents asked him about the twins. His mind was on the words he was waiting to give them when they got home. 

Over the past several weeks and with Joyce's blessing, he'd moved everything he really cared about from his parents' house over to Jonathan's. Most of his clothes were over there now, some pictures, the watch his grandpa had given him, his comic books, his bat. The only things left were just for show, just so his parents wouldn't know at a glance that he was ready to move out. 

He'd been ready since the beginning of the school year. He'd only turned eighteen two months ago, really. He would have moved out then, but he hadn't saved up enough for a car yet. He figured since his parents went out of town for most of April, he'd just stick it out through the end of the school year anyway.

That time was now.

He had his wallet in his pocket and his sneakers by the door. If everything went to hell, he'd walk to Nancy's and take it from there.

As Steve followed his parents into the house, the last one in through the door, he said, "Guys? I have to tell you something."

Fred gave him a look that said Steve really better double-think his words, because they sure as hell were not welcome now. Steve didn't give a fuck. This was happening now, whether his parents liked it or not.

"What is it, dear?" Harriet asked, and her expression was all bewilderment. She hadn't seen this coming the same way Fred had.

Taking a deep breath, and then letting it out, Steve told them, "I'm not going to State next year. I'm staying here in Hawkins and I'm going to community college until I figure out what comes next."

"You're not…" Fred took a step toward Steve. "But we _agreed_. You're going to State. You're majoring in business. Then you're going to work for me."

"And then I'm going to marry one of those twins and buy a house and have kids, right?" Steve asked, making a noise of indignance. "When did I ever actually agree to any of that? I _never_ agreed. You always just tell me the way it's going to be and expect me not to question it."

"I already put down a deposit! It's too late in the year to get that money back."

Doing his best to hold his ground – he'd held his ground against real, live monsters after all – Steve told his father, "That sounds like your mistake, not mine."

For a second, Steve was absolutely sure Fred was about to throw a swing at him. Steve was ready to duck, but Harriet got between them, holding her husband back.

"You–you _ungrateful_ little shit!" he said over her shoulder.

"Controlling bastard!"

"Enough!" Harriet cried, holding up both her hands. It was probably the loudest Steve had ever heard his mother speak. "Steven, please! State is a good school! You'll do well there."

"I'm not going," he told her, not about to start negotiating with them. 

Practically growling, Fred told him, "You are going to State. That's my car you're driving, this is my roof you're living under. You're going to do what I say!"

"It's really for the best, Steve," Harriet pleaded, still keeping herself between Steve and his father.

Steve scoffed. He took his keys out of his pocket. As his parents watched, he separated the ring that held his car and house keys from the one that held his new work keys and his key to the Byers house. Putting the rest of the keys back in his pocket, Steve tossed the car and house keys on the foyer floor.

"There," he said, meeting his father's eyes as he picked up his sneakers and started changing into them. He knew at this point he was going to need them. "I don't drive that car anymore, and I don't live in this house anymore. Happy?"

"Steven…" Harriet whispered, practically begging him with her eyes, like she hadn't been just as absent or over-involved these past few years as Fred had been.

"Where are you going to live?" Fred's tone was patronizing at best, watching him as Steve finished tying his sneakers and left his dress shoes lined up next to the door. "How are you going to get around? You can't _walk_ everywhere."

"I'm buying Mrs. Ward's old Omni tomorrow," Steve said, satisfied at the way both of his parents stared at him. It had never really occurred to them that he had his own thoughts and feelings and plans, had it? He was just an empty, blank piece of paper waiting for them to stamp their own goals and ambitions onto. Like hell was that going to happen.

"But–but…" Fred stammered. "Where did you get the money to buy a car?"

Steve rolled his eyes. "I worked for it. I've been working _all year_."

Licking her lips and looking wide-eyed between Steve and Fred, Harriet asked, "Where are you going to live? You can't live in your car, Steven! What about when it gets cold?"

Steve laughed, but it didn't feel good. "You guys really didn't notice? I've already moved out most of my stuff."

"Where did you move it to?" Harriet asked, stumbling a little as Fred moved closer to Steve and knocked into her.

Not wanting to get pinned by the door, Steve opened it and took a step out onto the porch.

Fred grabbed the door, looking like he was debating between following Steve or slamming the door in his face. " _Where_ , Steven?"

"The Byers house," he admitted, taking a few more steps when Fred reached out to try to grab him.

"Not my son!" he bellowed, reaching for Steve again, only to be thwarted when Steve ducked and danced out of the way, too quick for his father to catch. "I will not have you living there! With _those_ people? Get back inside this instant!"

"No, I don't think I will." Steve clapped his hands together. "Thanks for everything. See ya around. Bye!"

Steve didn't want to listen to his father calling after him, so he decided to take off running. Now that night had fallen, the air was a more comfortable temperature than earlier. The jog to Nancy's house felt nice. Refreshing. 

The wind blew through his hair, and for the first time in a year and a half, he didn't think twice about cutting through the woods.

He whooped. He was free!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nancy and Jonathan help Steve celebrate his new-found freedom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this chapter is mostly smut. Have fun!

"Are you sure there isn't some end-of-school party you two want to attend?" Nancy's mom asked as she handed Jonathan a fresh bowl of popcorn. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love having you here…"

Nancy looked up from the TV and smiled at her mom. "We're fine, Mom. Thanks."

"Thanks, Mrs. Wheeler!" Jonathan said, taking a handful of popcorn and handing the bowl over to Nancy. 

Just a few minutes later, the doorbell rang. Nancy shared a look with Jonathan before setting the popcorn bowl aside and scrambling to get to the door. As expected, Steve was on the other side. He was panting and sweaty, still dressed in a dress shirt, slacks, and tie. And when he looked up at them, he smiled.

"Well?" Nancy asked. 

Jonathan chimed in, "How did it go?"

Practically beaming, Steve threw himself at them, getting one arm around Nancy and one around Jonathan. "I did it! I finally did it!"

"Did they understand?" Nancy asked, earning an incredulous look from Steve.

"No, they did not fucking understand," Steve said, pulling her closer, and oh, god! He was _really_ sweaty. "Said if I lived under their roof and drove their car, I had to go to State. I fuckin' threw the keys back at them!" He whooped.

"Shh!" Nancy cried, taking Steve by the hand and leading him outside. "My little sister's sleeping!"

"Sorry," Steve said, still grinning ear-to-ear. "I'm just so–" He grabbed Nancy, picking her up and spinning around before setting her down again. "–fucking happy!" He grabbed Jonathan and spun him around twice before setting him down, making him laugh. "You guys have no idea how good this feels! We have to celebrate!"

"Celebrate how?" Nancy asked, shrieking a little when Steve grabbed her again, and kissed her. He swiped his tongue against her lips and Nancy's knees went weak.

"Oh," she said when he pulled back with a loud smacking sound. Nancy was pretty sure she knew _how_ Steve wanted to celebrate.

A throat clearing behind them drew Nancy's attention back to the house. Her dad stood in the doorway. Nancy smacked Steve, and when he turned to look, Ted spoke. "Whatever celebrations happen, please make them happen somewhere other than my front lawn. Okay?" He sounded more long-suffering than any person had a right to be.

"Sure, Dad," Nancy told him. "Let me just grab my bag." She passed him, ran up the stairs to her room, grabbed her purse, and came back down again.

On the way past him, her dad said, "Be home _sometime_ tonight, will you?"

"Okay!" she said, giving her father a happy kiss on the cheek before she ran out into the summer night.

Jonathan and Steve were already in the car, Jonathan in the driver's seat and Steve in the back. Jonathan started the car as Nancy got there, and put it in drive as soon as she closed the door. The tires squealed on the pavement, just a little, as Jonathan hit the gas. Steve laughed.

"You guys should have seen their faces," Steve insisted, his hand hot on the back of Nancy's neck. Looking over, Nancy saw Steve had his other hand on Jonathan's shoulder. "I thought their heads were gonna explode!"

"I'm happy for you," Nancy told him. She turned in her seat and pulled him by his tie until he was close enough to kiss.

Steve kissed her back hard, his tongue on hers and then his tooth bumping against her lip when they hit a bump. Fuck. She wished she was in the back so she could climb into his lap.

"Hey, save some for me, would ya?" Jonathan said with a laugh, swatting Nancy's knee.

"Some for you, huh?" Steve asked. He turned toward Jonathan, putting his mouth on the side of Jonathan's neck.

The car swerved and Joanthan yelled, "Whoa!" as he put it back in the center of the lane. "Not while I'm driving!"

"Then let's pull over," Steve said, like it was the easiest thing in the world.

"It won't take that long to get to my place," Jonathan insisted. He threw a look over his shoulder at Steve. " _Our_ place."

"Shit," Steve said with a laugh. "Yeah. _Our_ place."

Nancy's heart burst for the two of them, and she only felt a little left out. She wished she could live with them too, and spend as much time as possible just hanging out. Leaning on each other. Having sex.

She hoped it would happen one day, but unlike Steve, Nancy still needed her parents. She was going to need help getting to where she wanted to go, and leaving home early would throw a wrench into all those plans. 

It would have to wait. It _could_ wait.

In the meantime…

"Is anyone at your house tonight?" Nancy asked Jonathan.

He shook his head. "The kids are having some sort of sleepover going-away party at Dustin’s, and Mom is supposed to be having dinner with the Chief."

"How long is 'having dinner' supposed to take them?" Nancy thought the time for the close of a dinner date was rapidly approaching.

Jonathan grinned and said, "She told me she'd be back with Will in the morning." He stepped on the gas.

The three of them managed to make it to Jonathan's – and _Steve's_ – room before losing any clothing, but it was a close call. Nancy got Steve's shirt unbuttoned while he loosened and threw off the tie. Jonathan got his own shirt off, then undid the button and fly of Nancy's shorts.

Throwing off her top and bra, Nancy was naked by the time she straddled Steve on the bed. She held him down by his wrists and sucked on his neck while Jonathan got him out of his pants. "Oh, fuck," he cried out, squirming under Nancy. 

Jonathan was warm at Nancy's back, his hands on her hips. "This is your celebration, Steve. What do you want?"

Steve groaned and wriggled some more, but he didn't break Nancy's hold on him. He could have easily, but he didn't. "I don't know! Shit! Anything!"

"What about…" Nancy asked, pressing her hips down against Steve's belly, not _quite_ getting what she needed from him. "What about that thing we first tried a few weeks ago?"

Steve's eyes went wide and dark. "With the both of us…?"

Nancy nodded, scooting back until the head of Steve's cock was under her clit. Grinding down against him was a relief, but only for a second.

"What if we hurt you?" Jonathan asked.

"Just go slow," Nancy told him, letting go of Steve's arms and reaching back over her shoulder so she could pull Jonathan into a kiss.

Below her, Steve moved his hands so they were with Jonathan's on her hips. He wriggled, thrusting and probing until his cock slipped up and into her. He groaned, pulling most of the way out before thrusting in again.

Nancy sighed. Having Steve inside her felt fantastic, but she wanted more. "Jonathan!" she pleaded.

"Wait, turn over," Jonathan said, gently tugging on Nancy until she was laid out on her back on top of Steve, his teeth on her earlobe and his cock back in her pussy. Jonathan leaned over them, kissing Steve's cheek and his lips before kissing Nancy's mouth. Then he kissed his way down Nancy's body.

Jonathan made a brief detour to suck on one of Steve's fingers, making him groan and slow the roll of his hips, stuttering. It was an antagonizing journey, but finally it ended with Jonathan's mouth on Nancy's clit and two of his fingers sliding around and then into Nancy's entrance.

Nancy became so overwhelmed with sensation that she cried out, arching against the hold Steve had on her. "Ah! Fuck!"

Jonathan backed up, his wonderful mouth leaving her. "Do you need me to–"

"Get back here!" she cried, pulling on Jonathan with one of her feet.

As soon as he but his mouth back on her, Nancy felt herself start to come. "Ahhh!"

Jonathan worked her through it, only letting up when Nancy sighed and pushed his head away. He pulled his fingers out, but replaced them with his cock, pushing at Nancy ever so gently and slowly.

"Fuck, babe," Steve groaned, trembling beneath Nancy, even as he held his hips still.

Nancy tried her best to relax, running her fingers over Steve's arm and putting her other hand on Jonathan's neck as he worked his way inside her with shallow little thrusts. He held his breath in fits and starts, making his way deeper and deeper. Nancy couldn't do anything except pant, little moans escaping her every time Jonathan thrust in. His movements made her whole body feel like it was on fire, or full of bright, hot light.

Steve murmured in her ear, one arm holding tight just below Nancy's breasts, the other clutching against Jonathan's arm. "Baby, ah!" Steve said. "Nancy… Jon, baby, come on...fuck…yeah, come on… Baby...babe."

Then, shaking and panting, Jonathan made a small noise of triumph. "That's it! I'm…"

"Oh, god," Nancy cried, feeling too big and bright for her skin to possibly hold. "Don't stop! Move…"

Steve started moving first, but it didn't take long for Jonathan to match his rhythm. Every time they pulled out, it wasn't half the relief Nancy felt as when they pushed back in together.

"Shit, shit, shit," Steve muttered just before giving one last big thrust and tensing up below Nancy. "Ah!"

Jonathan suddenly slipped a little farther forward than he had before and Nancy saw stars. She dug her fingers into Steve's arm and cried out.

Instead of slowing down or stopping, Jonathan grabbed Nancy's hips and sped up. Nancy cried out again, bordering almost on oversensitive and Steve, still in Nancy and pressed tight against Jonathan, groaned. A second later, Jonathan let out the breath he'd been holding and stilled. Nancy felt his cock pumping deep inside her, and his lips left little kisses on her shoulder.

Laying sandwiched between the two of them, Nancy floated. It took her a little longer than it should have to realize she wasn't breathing as much as she needed to. She pushed at Jonathan's shoulder and he drew back onto his knees. After pulling out, Jonathan flopped down on the bed next to them.

Steve held Nancy close as he rolled them onto their sides to face Jonathan, but he kept one knee between Nancy's legs and his cock still nestled in her pussy. It felt nice enough, so Nancy didn't tilt her hips away from him.

"That was…" Jonathan sighed, tucking some of Nancy's hair back behind her ear and kissing her lips.

"Yeah," Nancy agreed, pulling Jonathan closer so she could feel his skin against hers.

"Mmm…" Steve gave a lazy-slow roll of his hips. The suggestion of sparks flitted through Nancy's body. On the next roll around, Nancy tilted her hips to better meet him. "God," Steve groaned, not hurrying his pace in the slightest. "Wanna do this every night."

"I don't think that's exactly prac–" Nancy drew a sharp breath when Steve snapped his hips. "Practical."

Steve tucked Nancy's hair under her head, kissing the back of her neck. He murmured, "Who gives a fuck about practical?"

"What else do we have in this crazy, impractical dream of yours?" Jonathan asked, folding his hand into the one Steve had on Nancy's stomach. Nancy put her hand over theirs. 

She sighed when Steve snapped his hips again.

"Our own place," Steve said, "with a nice bed. Three pillows."

"Can I have my own – ah! – my own closet?" Nancy asked.

"Sure, baby." Steve kissed Nancy on the shoulder. "And you and Jonathan are a famous reporter and … oh! … and photographer."

"Who are you, Steve?" Jonathan asked, his voice gentle and amused at the same time.

"I'm your handsome and mysterious – ah, shit," Steve said, picking up his pace. "Pool boy or something. Fuck! I don't know."

The way Steve moved in Nancy almost burned, but it was a good kind of burn. It was getting her closer to coming again. "Steve," she groaned. "More!"

Steve sped up, but Nancy watched as Jonathan untangled his hand from theirs and reached over her. He pushed his hand into Steve's hair and then made a fist. "Steve," he said, in a low, gentle voice that made Nancy shiver. "You mean more to us than some pool boy, alright?"

"Uh-huh," Steve panted. Then he rolled closer to Jonathan, putting Nancy beneath him with her stomach and chest on the bed. Nancy moved her arm so she could brace her elbows and make some room to breathe. Steve fucked into her faster and between the change in position and speed, Nancy hit a wall. She came, crying out again.

"Shit, Jon. Again!" Steve said, and then he was crying out too, heavy and still on Nancy's back. "Ah, fuck," he sighed, kissing between Nancy's shoulder blades. "God, I love you, Nancy."

Smiling, Nancy turned under Steve so she could see his face and kiss him. "Jonathan's right," she said, pushing her hands back through Steve's hair. Jonathan laid down next to them, kissing Nancy's shoulder. "We're all equals in this, okay? You mean just as much to me as Jonathan."

"Same from me," Jonathan said, touching Steve's face.

He looked down at the two of them, searching their faces before leaning over and giving Jonathan a deep kiss. He gave another to Nancy and softly said, "Okay." He settled down on the opposite side of Nancy from Jonathan. "I suppose I can be a little more ambitious than pool boy."

Steve lay back, looking at the ceiling for a moment. Then he sighed and looked back at them. "Promise you won't laugh?"

"Of course not," Nancy told him, stroking her fingers up and down his arm.

Steve looked away again, breaking eye contact before he spoke. "I was kind of thinking. I know I didn't do great in school… But, like maybe that's what would make me good at it?"

"Good at what?" Jonathan asked carefully, reaching across Nancy to put his hand on Steve's chest.

"Being a teacher," Steve admitted, still not looking at them. "Like, a middle school teacher. PE or something. History. Math? Not sure about the subject, but–"

"I think it's a great idea," Nancy told him, thinking about the way Steve always interacted with her brother and his friends. Taking care of them. Protecting them. Mentoring them. Leading them. "I think you would be really good at it."

"Really?" Steve asked, looking over at her. "You don't think I'm too dumb?"

"You're not dumb," Jonathan said, rubbing Steve's chest with his hand. 

Nancy put her hand over Jonathan's. "Yeah. Look at the way you brought up your grades this year. You can do this."

Steve smiled and put his hand over Nancy's. "Thanks, guys."

"You're welcome," Nancy told him. She curled up against his shoulder and yawned. Nancy had never felt more safe than she did right here, between her two boys.

~*~

It was a little weird handing over a check for most of his savings and getting the keys to a car in return, but Steve thought the high of getting they keys to his very own car made up for it. He looked at the keys in his hand, and even though Mrs. Ward had assurances from Larry at the autobody shop himself that the car was in good shape, Steve was half-convinced it wouldn't start.

Jonathan watched as Steve got into the car, figured out how to adjust the seat back further, and then put the key in the engine. "Here goes nothing," Steve said as he turned the key.

The engine didn't have the same sort of purr that his old beemer had, but the noise it made didn't sound bad.

Jonathan tapped on the hood of the car and asked, "Want me to follow you to the mall? Make sure you get there?"

Steve thought about waving him off, insisting he was fine, but he also knew how important it was to be on time for his first day of training. Smiling up at Jonathan, Steve said sheepishly, "Yes, please."

Jonathan laughed, but he nodded as he tapped the roof of Steve's new car again. "Okay. Let's go."

They made it to the mall with no issues, and they were _early_ even. Steve had never felt so responsible in his entire _life_. 

Steve parked near a corner of the lot, fairly far away from all the other cars. He had time to walk, and this way hardly anyone would have the opportunity to run into his brand new (used) car. Jonathan pulled through going the opposite direction, stopping so their windows lined up.

"Good luck," Jonathan said, with that smile he got when he wanted to kiss Steve, but wasn't going to.

"Thanks, babe," Steve said, sure they were far enough away from anyone else that the pet name would go unnoticed. "Provided I don't screw up too badly, I'll be home like nine-thirty."

"See you then." Jonathan gave Steve one last, kind of awkward nod, before driving away.

Steve sighed. He loved that guy so much he could hardly stand it sometimes.

He locked up his car, made his way into the mall, and approached the Scoops Ahoy counter at exactly 12:30.

"Hey," he said to the girl behind the counter. "Steve Harrington. Reporting for duty."

She had dirty-blonde hair, freckles, and a scowl. "I know who you are," she said, and oh, yeah. She looked a little familiar. Her name tag said, "Robin." She pointed to the swinging door on the left hand side of the counter. "Manager's in the back."

"Great, thanks," he told her, really starting to get unnerved by the scowl.

The training was easy. Steve already knew how to work the register, since it was the same as the one at Miller’s. Scooping ice cream was easier than making shakes. The outfit wasn't really his style, but Steve figured he needed money and it was a job. He'd have to just deal with the outfit.

At five o'clock Lucy, the manager, left and Steve was stuck working with Robin. She still scowled at him, but Steve thought maybe the scowl was starting to fade a little bit.

Toward the end of the night, as customers became few and far between, Steve asked Robin, "So, have I done something to offend you?"

"No," she insisted simply, focusing on cleaning a part of the counter that was already clean.

"You went to Hawkins, right? You were in orchestra or something."

"Band," she corrected him, all but snapping. 

"Geez, sorry! Band. That's cool."

"Yeah, right," she replied, leaving Steve at the counter while she went into the back.

In the twenty minutes she was gone, Steve served one more customer, cleaned up the seating area, and counted out the cash drawer.

When Robin finally came back out, it was exactly at closing time. "Hey," he said, watching as she looked in confusion around the seating area. "What do I do with the cash at the end of the night? You guys have those locked bank envelopes or what?"

"Did you clean everything?" she asked, staring at Steve like he'd grown an extra head.

"Yeah," he told her. "Where have you been?"

Looking a little ashamed, Robin came back behind the counter. "Nowhere." She reached for the cash drawer.

"I already counted it," he told her, watching as Robin hesitated, then took out the stack of twenties.

"We always double count," she said, and to Steve's ears it sounded like a lie.

"Yeah, okay." Steve told her. "Whatever."

"Whatever," she parotted back.

Sighing, Steve got the trash ready to go out while Robin finished counting. "You're not working again tomorrow, are you?"

Robin snorted. "And the day after that and after that and after that. Until I can afford to get out of this town."

"Admirable goal," he told her.

Robin flipped him off and kept counting. In the end, her total matched the one he'd written down. Steve stuck his tongue out at her and she sneered.

The money got put in a safe, and then Robin said, "Get all your stuff and the trash bags. I'll show you the way out."

Steve didn't have any other stuff, having stashed his extra clothes in his car on his lunch break, so he picked up the trash bags and waited.

"This way," Robin said, leading the way through the back of the store, through a stark fluorescent-lit hallway (he noticed a door to the movie theater -- nice!), and out an exit door. She pointed to a dumpster, waited while Steve got the bags in by himself. Then she said, "So that's it. Bye."

As Steve followed her out of the garbage area and into the parking area, he came to a conclusion that made him cry out, "Well, shit."

"What?" Robin asked, turning and walking backward.

"My car's on the other side of the mall," he told her. "It's no big. I'll walk."

Robin got into a car that was parked very conveniently, started it, and pulled up next to Steve. "Get in."

"Why?" he asked her suspiciously.

Rolling her eyes, Robin told him, "I'll drive you to your car, dingus."

He figured it beat walking, so Steve got in. He directed her around the mall and to his car. "This is me."

"Wait," she said, grabbing Steve's arm before he could get out. "You're driving a _Dodge_? I thought you had some fancy BMW."

" _Had_ ," Steve told her. "My dad took it back when I wasn't on board with him planning out my entire future. I bought this baby," he nodded to the Omni, "used with my own money."

"Wow," she said, giving Steve a confused look. "See you tomorrow, Harrington."

Steve, feeling a little silly in his work outfit, gave Robin a salute and said, "Ahoy-hoy," as he got out of her car.

She drove off and Steve was left in the mostly-empty parking lot alone. He felt lucky that there was a whole family waiting for him at the Byers' house – at _his_ house – and that he didn't have to go back to his parents' house. He didn't have to go back to a house that always felt cold and empty, even when there were people in it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nancy and Jonathan visit Steve at Scoops Ahoy.

Jonathan stretched as he woke up, grimacing when he realized he was sweat-stuck to the skin on Nancy’s back. Ugh, summer. It didn’t help that he had Steve plastered against _his_ back, too.

The room was still dark, which meant it wasn’t time to wake up yet. In fact, a glance at the clock said it was just past midnight. It had been a long first week of work at the paper, and both he and Nancy had fallen asleep early, exhausted. Steve must have come in after his closing shift at the mall and joined them. 

Usually Jonathan appreciated Steve taking up space in their bed, making it feel cozy and safe. Now it just felt too hot. 

As carefully as he could, Jonathan got out from between the two of them and out of bed. The open window wasn’t doing much for the heat, so he switched on the fan, put on some shorts, and went to the kitchen for something to drink. On his way back, Jonathan noticed someone sitting on the couch. The size was right for it to be Will, but the silhouette was wrong. 

When Jonathan got close enough, he realized it was Eleven. She was looking out the front window, and somehow Jonathan knew she knew he was there.

Then she spoke, her voice just above a whisper. “Sometimes sleeping is hard."

"Uh, yeah," he said, stepping further into the room. "Are you supposed to be sleeping _here_?"

“Hopper said it was too late to drive all the way back to the cabin.”

Jonathan fought the urge to smile. What a load of bullshit. Hopper just wanted to sleep next to Joyce. His girlfriend. Jonathan knew the feeling. “Ah.” 

Stepping further into the room, Jonathan sat down in the recliner facing the couch. “What’s keeping you awake?”

“Different place than usual,” she said, rearranging the sheet she had wrapped around herself. In a smaller voice, she said, “Bad dreams.”

“I get those,” Jonathan told her.

“Does anything help?”

Jonathan thought about this. The only thing he knew of that helped with sleeping was to have both Nancy and Steve in the bed with him. He figured the closest person who matched that description for her was Mike, and he wasn’t going to suggest two thirteen year olds start sleeping in the same bed.

“I–I…” he said as he was thinking. Then he had it. “I try to think about good things. Things I like, things I want to see or do. That sort of stuff.”

El nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll try.”

“Okay,” Jonathan said, giving her a little wave. He went back to his room and crawled back into bed. 

With a little murmur, Steve turned toward Jonathan and pulled him close. He kissed Jonathan’s shoulder and his hand drifted down Jonathan’s stomach toward his shorts. 

If there wasn’t a telepathic thirteen-year-old sitting awake out in the living room, Jonathan might have let Steve’s hand wander. Instead, he laced his fingers with Steve’s and brought their clasped hands up over his chest. 

Steve made a noise that sounded like an, “Alright,” and settled against Jonathan’s back. His light snores started up again a moment later, but Jonathan still lay there awake. 

Eventually he closed his eyes, and when he opened them up again, it was morning.

~*~

Steve got out of bed, pulled on an old pair of boxers and a crumpled t-shirt, and stumbled in the direction of the bathroom. He stopped short when he found Will leaning up against the wall next to the closed bathroom door. “Shit, there’s already a line?”

“Yup,” Will said, watching as Nancy came out of the bedroom too. She was wearing her own shorts, but one of Jonathan’s shirts, and her hair was kind of all over the place.

Eleven wandered over from the living room, rubbing at her eyes and asking, “Why are we all standing here?”

“Because _someone_ ,” Will said, knocking on the bathroom door, “is taking too much time!”

“Jesus, alright, already,” said Hopper’s voice from inside the bathroom. The toilet flushed and the sink ran and then Hopper came out into the hallway. Will brushed past him and into the bathroom as Hopper asked Steve, “Just how many people stayed over last night?”

“I don’t count, because I live here now,” Steve told him, moving up the line. “But you and El and Nancy.”

“Seven people and one bathroom?” Hopper asked. 

Steve and Nancy both nodded. El joined the line for the bathroom. 

Calling down the hall as he went, Hopper said, “Joyce, you need a bigger house!”

“Then buy me one,” she called back sweetly. 

Steve laughed. He pulled Nancy closer and kissed her hair. “G’morning, babe.”

“Morning,” she said, but she looked a little distracted. Oh, right.

“Hey, you go ahead of me,” he insisted as the toilet flushed again. “You’ve gotta get to work soon, huh?.”

“Thanks,” she said, taking Will’s place when he left the bathroom. 

Turning to El, Steve asked her, “What are you up to today?”

She shrugged. 

“Ever seen Star Wars?”

El shook her head. 

“Will!” Steve called down the hallway. 

“What?” he called back. 

“El’s never seen Star Wars!”

Sticking his head out from his room, Will said, “I’m pretty sure Dustin has a copy.”

“Call him and tell him I’ll pick him up in an hour.”

Will grinned. “Yeah? Okay.”

Hopper plodded back down the hallway, dressed and with his cigarettes in one hand. He ruffled El’s hair with one hand, and then punched Steve’s arm as he passed. 

Steve recognized it was supposed to be a friendly punch, and the attention from Hop made him feel surprisingly pleased. On the other hand, he couldn’t help rubbing at his arm and mouthing, “Ow!” in El’s direction to make her laugh. It worked.

~*~

“It sucks, I know,” Jonathan said as he and Nancy left the newspaper office. “But it has to get better, right? As soon as they figure out how great you are.”

“Yeah, one would hope,” Nancy replied. All she wanted to do was learn how to be a good investigative journalist. This internship was supposed to be her first step in the process. As far as the men who worked there went, it was going to be Nancy’s last step too. 

When Jonathan turned right at Duvall instead of left, Nancy asked him, “Where are we going?”

“I have an idea to make you feel better,” he told her with a smile. “I’m taking you out for ice cream.”

A grin spread across Nancy’s face. “Are we going where I think we’re going?”

“Oh, yes we are!”

With a laugh, Nancy told him, “That’s the best idea you’ve ever had!”

They walked into the mall hand-in-hand, and Nancy let herself people watch and window shop on the way. When they approached the food court, Nancy could barely hold in her excitement. Leaning over to Jonathan, she murmured, "You think we can arrange for him to bend over in those little sailor shorts?"

Jonathan choked on a laugh. He blushed, and Nancy could tell he was still thinking about it when they walked into Scoops Ahoy. 

Steve was serving a family, and his eyes lit up in surprise when he saw Nancy and Jonathan past them. When the mom accepted her change from Steve, Nancy noticed the way she gave him a little bit of a lingering look. Okay, gross.

Steve didn't seem to notice. He smiled at Nancy and Jonathan, saying, "Ahoy! My name is Steve." He pointed to the name tag on his shirt. "Care to sail on this voyage of flavor with me?"

"Sure," Nancy replied, leaning on the counter. "What do you recommend for getting over a rough day?"

His brows furrowing, Steve leaned forward. In a quiet voice he asked, "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Just the same shit as for the last three weeks," she told him.

Steve shared a look with Jonathan before nodding. "Yeah, okay," he said, standing up. "Well, what about our signature U.S.S. Buttercup sundae?" Steve pointed to the menu behind him.

Nancy looked at it and sighed. "Yeah, I don't know..."

Steve and Jonathan looked at each other, and then said in unison, "Chocolate." Before Nancy could even agree that yeah, chocolate sounded good, Steve had his scooper out and into the double chocolate fudge ice cream. He put the ice cream in a bowl, sprayed some whipped cream on top, drizzled chocolate syrup on top of that, and finished with a cherry. He stuck one spoon into the sundae and slid it across the counter. "There you go, babe."

"Thank you," Nancy said, picking up the ice cream.

Jonathan made a face at Steve until Steve asked, "What?"

"I don't get a spoon, too?"

"Nope," Steve said, but he picked up a waffle cone, put a scoop of strawberry ice cream inside it, then a scoop of vanilla. Presenting it to Jonathan, he asked, "That good?"

Jonathan blinked at him for a second before reaching for the ice cream. "Yeah, that's great, actually. Thanks."

Giggling, Nancy asked Steve, "What do we owe you?"

"Blow jobs," he replied, so matter-of-factly that Nancy almost choked on the cherry in her mouth. "One from each of you, please."

"No, really," Nancy said. "What do we owe you?"

"I'm serious." 

Jonathan coughed, looking around before he leaned closer and whispered to Steve, "What, like now?"

"No, not now!" Steve cried. "Do you want me to lose my job?" He shook his head and scoffed. "Horn dogs, the both of you."

Jonathan chuckled and Nancy turned to see more people coming into the store. She tugged on Jonathan's elbow and told Steve, "We'll just be over here."

Nancy sat at a booth where they could watch Steve work, and pulled Jonathan close so she could lean her head on his shoulder. After a few minutes, Nancy said, "He's good with people, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Jonathan agreed. "Though I hope he doesn't sexually harass any of his other customers."

"Just us," Nancy said with a laugh. 

A girl in a sailor's costume came out from the back room, said something to Steve, and then took a rag from the counter. She came out into the dining area and cleared off a few tables before really focusing on the table next to theirs.

Nancy shared a concerned look with Jonathan just before the girl whispered over the back of the booth. "You know, I think it's really shitty that you're sitting here, flaunting your relationship in front of Steve like this. You couldn't just take your ice cream and go?"

Well that was an interesting interpretation of the facts! "Steve's our friend," Nancy told this girl. 

"Come on," she said, aggressively wiping down the back of the booth next to theirs. "Everyone knows you cheated on Steve during a basketball game junior year. And," she looked up over the booth, giving Nancy the dirtiest look, "he's still _super_ hung up on you. He talks about you all the time."

Trying to figure out why this girl would care, Nancy asked her, "Do _you_ want to date him?"

"What? No!" she cried, looking over at Steve with disgust all over her face. "Gross."

Granted, Steve was playing air guitar on his scooper at that very moment, but Nancy felt like her taste was being insulted. Nancy wanted to argue that Steve wasn't gross, but honestly he kind of was sometimes. It's just Nancy loved him, with all the gross included. Looking over at Jonathan, Nancy saw that he had his head down, but his eyebrows raised. Yeah, Nancy concurred.

Still, the girl (she was close enough now that Nancy could read her name tag: Robin) glared at Nancy long enough that it was starting to get really uncomfortable. With a sigh, Nancy realized she might have to leave, or to just confess to Robin that she and Jonathan were sleeping with Steve, and that she could get her nose out of their business, thank you very much.

What the fuck ever. It had been a bad day. All the guys at the newspaper were constantly trying to get her to leave. No way she was letting some girl with the hots for Steve chase her away from his place of business when she had every right to be there. Very deliberately, Nancy picked up a scoop of ice cream, brought it to her mouth, and stared at Robin as she slowly licked the spoon clean.

"Jesus Christ, Nancy," Jonathan muttered, turning away from her and putting one of his arms in his lap.

Robin made a frustrated sound and stomped away toward the back of the store. Steve finished serving someone and then came around the counter. He sat in the booth next to Nancy and stole her spoon, using it to dig a big bite out of Nancy's sundae as he asked her, "What the hell did you say to Robin to make her stomp off like that?"

"Nothing," Nancy told him as Steve put the ice cream in his mouth and handed her back the spoon.

Through the bite of ice cream still in his mouth, Steve nodded at Jonathan. "What the hell did you do to _him_? Why's he blushing?"

"I'm not blushing," Jonathan insisted, though he _was_ hiding his face behind his waffle cone.

"Nothing!” She picked up her spoon and repeated her previous move, looking at Steve this time.

"Jesus," he laughed. "Yep, yeah, okay. That would do it!"

"What?" she asked, making her voice sound as innocent as she could. 

Steve stood halfway up, reaching across the table for Jonathan's cone. He held it in place long enough to take a bite, and said while he was chewing, "You play dirty, Wheeler. I like it." Then he winked and walked back behind the counter as another customer came in.

"We can go if you want,” Nancy told Jonathan. 

Jonathan shook his head. “I need another minute.” He took a big bite of his ice cream, like that would help. Hell, Nancy didn’t know. Maybe it would. 

She smiled to herself. Maybe the men at work didn’t respect her, but the ones she loved certainly did.

~*~

Jonathan had to admit that developing pictures of a crazed rat was more interesting than developing yet another one of the mayor kissing a cute baby. This sort of photography served a purpose to be sure, and Jonathan liked helping Nancy solve puzzles. But it wasn’t art. 

He missed shooting for art’s sake. 

He missed shooting weird and sometimes grotesque things, if only because it made it easier to point at something and say, “This. This is what I feel like on the inside today.”

Jonathan didn’t think he’d ever had a rabid rat day, but you never knew. Every day was a little bit different. 

As he made the prints, soaking them in one bath after the other before hanging them up to dry, Jonathan thought about the drive and the focus he’d seen in Nancy the past couple days. He liked seeing her that way, loved it in fact, but it scared him too. 

It made him imagine a future where circumstances swept Nancy up and away from him, into a world of smart, powerful people who would take one look at him standing next to Nancy and kick him back down into his rightful place. 

That night was one of the few nights Nancy had agreed to her mother’s request to sleep at home for once. Jonathan laid in the dark next to Steve and finally said these thoughts about Nancy leaving him behind out loud. 

“Yeah, I get it,” Steve said, nervously reaching up and fidgeting with the edge of the headboard. “I mean, why else do you think I’ve been working so hard all year? Without my dad’s money it’s going to be so difficult to keep up with her. I figured I needed a head start.”

“At least you’ve got a family name,” Jonathan said, punching at his pillow. “All my name gets me is hateful stares.”

“Well, yeah in _this_ town. But we’re getting out of here, right?”

Jonathan shrugged. “I know I’d like to try.”

Steve rolled closer, putting Jonathan’s arm in the crook of his neck and his arm over Jonathan’s chest. “What if we both change our names to Wheeler?” he asked with a little chuckle. “And when anyone asks, ‘Hey, are you related to Nancy Wheeler?’ we can both say, ‘Hell, yeah. That’s my wife!’”

Jonathan let out an amused breath as he pulled Steve into a hug. “That sounds nice.”

“Yeah.”

Honestly, although Jonathan had dreamed of getting out of Hawkins for a long time, he hadn’t let himself think of it as a possibility in years. Ever since Lonnie had left, Jonathan felt responsible for keeping the rest of his family together and functional. But, maybe they didn’t need him as much anymore. 

Will had been doing better since the gate was closed. Joyce was getting close to Hopper. Because she came along when Hopper did, El spent almost as many nights at the house now as Nancy. 

They didn’t need him as much anymore. Maybe he could go to college. Maybe he could pursue a life outside Hawkins. Hell, maybe even outside of Indiana. Maybe he _could_.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonathan and Nancy find the mind flayer's weapon, while Steve and Robin talk under the influence of Russian truth serum.

“You’re home late,” Joyce said as Steve let himself into the house. She was sitting in front of the TV, but the volume was turned so low he was pretty sure she wasn’t actually listening to it. 

“Yeah,” Steve told her, shaking the worst of the rain off his arms and taking off his shoes. “There was a big mess I had to clean up after closing. Big mess.”

“Well,” she said, waving Steve over and pulling him down so she could put a kiss on his cheek. “I was afraid you’d had trouble in the storm, but I’m glad you made it safely.”

“Yeah, me too,” he told her, his head still buzzing with the code and everything they’d figured out. Well, mostly Robin and Dustin had figured stuff out. He’d kept the line at the ice cream counter from backing up.

Steve went back to his and Jonathan’s room to get changed out of his wet uniform, and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what Jonathan and Nancy had done to it. There were at least two maps tacked up on the wall, maybe a third (but that one was half fallen over on itself). Jonathan stood by one with a red marker in his hand. Dozens of pictures were spread out over the bed. And Nancy had a phone book in her lap. 

“What the hell is this?” Steve asked, closing the door behind him. “Is something going on?”

“We’re not sure yet,” Nancy told him, her finger placed firmly in the phone book. She read an address out to Jonathan and he marked it on the map. 

“What do you know?” Steve asked, going over to the bed and picking up some of the pictures. “Because I know some stuff, and if it’s different stuff than what you know, that means there’s too much stuff.”

Nancy narrowed her eyes at Steve. “What do you know?”

“There’s Russians and they’re using the mall to smuggle some sort of contraband. Haven’t figured out what yet.”

“Back up a step,” Jonathan said, watching as Steve decided he couldn’t stand another minute wearing his uniform and stripped out of his shirt. “Russians? Contraband? What?”

“How do you know this?” Nancy asked, setting aside the phone book. 

Steve opened the dresser he shared with Jonathan, pulling out a shirt that was probably his, and putting it on. “Dustin picked up a Russian code. Robin is some sort of language genius – who knew? – and she helped us crack it. They’re getting shipments of something at the mall, and putting it all in a locked room with an armed guard on the door. That’s pretty fucking fishy, if you ask me.”

He took off his shorts next, tossing them into the hamper with his shirt. Sitting down on the bed in his underwear, Steve picked up another set of weird, blurry photos. “What are you guys after?”

“Diseased rats,” Nancy told him, picking out a clearer photo and handing it to him. “They’ve been eating fertilizer and all sorts of other chemicals. Stuff has been going missing from all over town.”

Steve turned toward Jonathan and asked, “Hence the map?”

“Hence the map,” Jonathan agreed. He took a step back, then put his finger near one of the edges. “If the Russians are at the mall, it’s way over here.” He used his other hand to point to the opposite corner of town. “All the stuff has gone missing from here.”

“Yeah,” Nancy said, standing up from the bed. “But look at what’s between the two. The lab.”

“Shit.” Steve stood up and found a clean pair of shorts. He put those on before leaving the room. 

As he expected, Joyce was still in the living room, not quite watching TV. “Hey, Joyce,” he said, sitting down next to her. “You know where Hopper is?”

“He…” she said, pointing back towards her bedroom. “There was a fight. He’s sleeping it off.”

From behind Steve, Nancy asked, “Where is El? And Will?” Jonathan was standing with her.

“Um,” she said, looking around at them, her expression turning more worried by the second. “Will is at Mike’s. El is at Max’s.” She stood up. “Is something going on?”

Jonathan went to her, holding his mom’s arm. “Why? What happened?”

“All the magnets fell down,” she explained, and Steve didn’t understand what that had to do with anything. 

“Come on,” Jonathan said, tugging his mom toward their room. “I want to show you something.”

Steve shared a look with Nancy. “Shit. This _is_ something happening.”

“Yeah,” she said, chewing on her fingernail. “But what?”

~*~

Jonathan lay helpless on the hospital floor, frozen with terror. This was it. He’d cheated death two years ago, and it had finally come back for him. He couldn’t quite reach the scissors just three feet away and Tom (or the thing posing as Tom) was going to kill him. 

But then something happened. Tom stopped. The pressure on Jonathan’s back eased and Jonathan scrambled away. He took up the scissors. Tom wasn’t quite attacking again yet, but Jonathan wasn’t going to give him the chance. 

He plunged the scissors into Tom’s neck. Jonathan killed him. 

The body fell to its knees, and then slowly collapsed onto the floor. That was it. The ordeal was over. 

But then the lights flickered. They flickered. Then they went out. 

Jonathan shuddered in the darkness, wishing he hadn’t lost track of Nancy. Wishing he hadn’t let Steve go back to that stupid mall. Yes, Hopper and Joyce were missing, and yes they had no idea what else they could have done. But still. If Steve was here, if they were all together, then nothing bad could happen to them. 

It was a stupid, childish thought. 

Even so, it had him sprinting out of the room, despite the darkness. He ran toward where he thought Nancy should be, calling out, “Nancy! Nancy!”

“Here!” she yelled, blissfully still alive. 

Jonathan crashed into her, holding her tightly. She shook in his arms and he could practically feel how scared she was. “We have to get out of here.”

“This way,” she said, pulling Jonathan toward the stairwell. 

He looked over his shoulder to see the flesh that used to be Tom _joining_ with the flesh that used to be Bruce. He thought he might be sick. 

They opened the stairwell door, and El was there, the rest of the kids behind her. 

“Go!” Jonathan cried out. Will and Lucas listened to him, but Mike and Max hesitated, staying with El as she put her hand out and screamed. 

She threw the ball of flesh around the in-construction hospital wing a few times, then out the window. Jonathan went with as everyone followed it out of the hospital and into the driveway. As the ball of flesh melted down a sewer grate, leaving behind a few larger pieces of bone, Jonathan held Nancy tight. 

He understood how close he’d come to being killed, and how close he’d come to losing Nancy. It gave him a bad feeling about Steve’s safety. 

And Jonathan still didn’t know where his mom was. 

With his free arm, Jonathan pulled his brother close and held onto him, hoping like hell the rest of his family was alright.

~*~

As each punch landed, Steve thought about all the fights he’d been in over the past two years. That first one, the one with Jonathan, that was the one that really started Steve on the path that led him here. 

If he hadn’t goaded Jonathan into a fight, he wouldn’t have gone to Jonathan’s house to apologize. He wouldn’t have seen the monster that _still_ gave him nightmares. And he wouldn’t have fallen in love. 

The Russians asked Steve, “Who do you work for?”

He knew they wanted him to say some spy organization. The CIA or some shit. 

Steve didn’t know. He was just a kid from Hawkins who had a habit of getting into fights with monsters. 

After they injected him with that drug, Steve felt kind of nice. The pain in his face went away. His bruised ribs felt a lot better too. “Hey,” he said to Robin, tied to his back. “I ever tell you about how I broke my ribs?”

“No,” she said happily. “How did you break your ribs, Steve? Getting beat up by Russian spies?”

“No!” he said with a laugh. “Some psycho tried to mess up my friend Lucas. Can you believe that? He’s such a nice kid!”

“What psycho?”

“Billy Hargrove!” Steve laughed again. “Stomped on my ribcage trying to get to his sister. I can’t believe he got away with it. I couldn’t breathe right for like two months!”

“That guy _is_ psycho,” Robin replied, breaking into giggles that made Steve smile. 

The door buzzed and then opened. The big boss man returned with the doctor. They asked more questions and Steve heard himself giving responses. But all the responses just made them angrier. Steve didn’t get it. Did they want answers or not?

Eventually, Dustin and Erica got them out of there and back into the elevator. Dustin shook Steve, asking him, “Steve? Where did you park? Where’s your car?”

Steve remembered the Russians emptying his pockets and he scrambled for the elevator buttons. “We have to go back! They took my keys! The keys to my car!”

“No way in hell we’re going back there," Dustin insisted as the elevator finished climbing.

"But my car…"

Dustin ignored Steve's need to rescue his poor baby car that he'd bought _himself_ from the big mean Russians. "We're going to have to improvise."

There was a bit of a whirlwind as Steve followed Dustin back into the mall and through the maze of back hallways until they ended up at the movies. Ooh, popcorn! 

The movie was too bright and Steve had no idea what was going on, or where Dustin had run off to, but he was so hungry. And so thirsty! Fuck, he needed something to drink! 

"Where are you going?" Robin hissed, hanging onto Steve's shirt as he left the theater.

"Water!" he cried out, practically drowning himself in the drinking fountain. He drank as much as he could, but everything started spinning and Steve suddenly wished he hadn't eaten that popcorn. He bolted into the bathroom and hurled.

When he was finally feeling less sick, Steve groaned and sat down on the cool bathroom floor. "Fuck."

"Yeah," Robin agreed from the next stall over. 

"I haven't been this sick since Halloween," he admitted, pouting when he thought about the way Nancy and Jonathan had taken care of him. They weren't here now, but Steve wished they were. He felt like he needed a hug. Maybe someone to pet his hair and tell him everything was going to be okay.

Looking down at his hands, Steve realized it looked like he had at least four of them. He was only supposed to have two, right? But which ones were real? He thought maybe the ones that weren't as blurry. 

Breaking into his deductive process, Robin said, "Hey. The ceiling stopped spinning for me. Has it stopped spinning for you?"

Looking up, Steve saw that the ceiling tiles were still a little blurry and mismatched, but they weren't spinning anymore. In fact, they were starting to come back into focus. "Holy shit. You think we puked up all that stuff?"

"I don't know," she replied, shifting over in the other stall. Then she said something that sounded like, "Interrogate me," in a Russian accent.

At least, Steve hoped she was going for a Russian accent. Maybe there was still something wrong with his ears. But anyway, "Yeah, okay. Interrogate you." What was something Robin wouldn't want to answer? "When was the last time you…" God, what would be embarrassing enough to count? "...peed your pants?"

"Today!" Robin told him, giggling.

"Today?"

"When that Russian doctor took out the bone saw!" She giggled again, shifting around. "But just a little bit. Just a little bit!"

Steve couldn't help but laugh. Robin peeing her pants seemed like just about the funniest thing that had ever happened to him.

“Okay, my turn,” Robin said from the next stall over. “Have you ever...been in love?”

“Oh, yeah,” Steve told her, poking at his face where it felt a little funny. Kind of numb, like at the dentist’s office. “Still am, actually.”

“With who?”

The answer tripped off Steve’s tongue as easily as falling. “Nancy and Jonathan. I love them both so much, Robin. So much.” 

Oh, wait. He wasn’t supposed to say that out loud, was he? Especially the Jonathan part. 

“Y–you can’t tell anyone I'm with them.” 

When she didn’t respond, Steve said, “Robin, you can’t tell anyone! Robin? Robin, did you OD over there?”

“Nope. I am ... still alive,” she said, and her voice sounded weird, like she was going to cry. 

“Hey,” he said, sliding himself on the floor until he was in the same stall as her. “Hey, don’t be sad.”

“I’m not _sad_ ,” she insisted, even though there were definite tears in her eyes.

Oh, fuck. Steve had been afraid of this. "Hey, it's okay," he told her. "I really, really like you as a friend, you know? You’re actually pretty awesome. I've laughed more this summer than I have in a long time. I’m– I’m really sorry it took me so long to figure it out."

Robin looked up at Steve, staring at him with an expression that made him think he'd said something wrong.

"What?" he asked. "I get that you're into me, but–"

"I'm not into you!" Robin cried, awkwardly kicking his foot with hers. "Did you know that you're an insufferable narcissist?"

Steve tried to get meaning out of Robin's words, but his brain just wasn't cooperating with him. "I don't know what that means."

"It means not everything is about you, dingus," she said, wiping a tear from beneath her left eye. 

"I _have_ heard that before," he told her, ducking to try to meet her eyes. "Why are you sad?"

"Somehow you find – you found … It's not _fair_!"

Steve still didn't understand what Robin was trying to say, so he figured he'd just shut up and let her get there eventually. 

A minute later, Robin knocked her knee against Steve's and said, "Do you remember what I said about Click's class? About me being jealous, and like, obsessed with you?"

"Yeah," Steve told her, really watching her face for some clue about what was going on.

"It isn't because I had a crush on _you_. It's because…" Robin paused, but she didn't look away. A second later, she finished her thought, " _She_ wouldn't stop staring at you."

Okay, maybe Steve was still too high, because he wasn't getting it. "Mrs. Click?"

Robin chuckled and shook her head. "Tammy Thompson. I wanted her to look at _me_ , but she …" Robin smiled, but the sound she made wasn't quite a laugh. "She couldn't stop staring at you and your _stupid_ hair. And I didn't understand, because you would get bagel crumbs _all_ over the floor. And you asked _dumb_ questions. And you were a _douchebag_. And you didn't even like her and–and I would go home and just _scream_ into my pillow."

Suddenly, Steve got it. He understood. "Oh. You _liked_ her."

"Yeah," Robin whispered with a nod of her head.

"Holy shit," Steve said, leaning back against the stall divider.

Robin nodded and leaned away too, saying in confirmation, "Yeah. Holy shit."

"I've never met someone else who…" he told her, trying to explain how he'd gotten things so wrong. "I mean, besides Jonathan, and finding out about him was kind of an accident."

"An _accident_?" she asked with a laugh. "How did you accidentally find out about Jonathan?"

Steve shrugged. "There was some shit that went down. The three of us … well, we went through something scary together. We got close. I kissed him. He kissed me back."

"It's not that simple!" she cried, pouting as she put her hands together in her lap. "I can't just go around kissing people, hoping they won't kill me for it." She sighed. "And you get _two_ people? How is that fair? Why do you get everything and I get–get _nothing_?"

In a quiet voice, Steve told Robin, "I don't have everything, Robin. My parents don't give a shit about me. I barely sleep. _This_ ," he pointed to his face, "isn't even the scariest thing that's happened to me in the past year. You don't know me. Not like you think you do."

Robin looked at Steve for a long time before she spoke again. "Yeah, but _Nancy Wheeler_?" Robin asked. "She's such a priss."

Steve let his head fall back against the metal wall, feeling a pleasant smile spread across his face. “No! Nancy’s so smart. And she’s so pretty, especially when she lets her hair down. And she is surprisingly scary, in a really hot sort of way.” He smirked at Robin. "She's _way_ better than Tammy Thompson. That girl's such a dud."

"No she's not!" Robin cried indignantly. "She's so cute and amazing. And what about Jonathan Byers? He's a creepy weirdo."

"No he's not!"

Robin counted on her fingers as she said, "He never says _anything_ , and he looks like he's always planning on _murdering_ someone!"

Feeling defensive, Steve insisted, "He's–he's _shy_!"

" _Murderous_ ," Robin insisted.

"Look, he only ever _almost_ killed Josh Becker, okay?" Steve insisted. "And that guy's an asshole, so it doesn't count."

"Jesus Christ!" Robin cried. "What the hell could you see in a guy like that?"

"Okay, one," Steve insisted, "that fight was three against two and he was defending himself. At first, anyway." Steve wondered if Jonathan really would have killed Josh Becker if Steve hadn't pulled him away. And why did he find that thought kind of hot? 

Shaking himself out of it, Steve continued, "And two, Jonathan is really cool. He’s always got great music, and he’s good at taking care of people, and seeing the beauty in things.” Steve smirked. “And he’s got really great hands. Long fingers, you know…”

“Ew!” Robin kicked Steve and even though he was sitting down, he lost his balance and ended up lying on the floor. 

"Tammy Thompson, on the other hand," Steve said, looking over at Robin with a grin. "I mean yeah, she's cute, but she's the worst. Did you know she wants to be a singer? Like Nashville or some shit?"

"She's got dreams! Ambition!"

"But have you heard her sing?" Steve insisted, laughing when Robin tried to kick him again. "She can't carry a tune!" He attempted to imitate Tammy's singing, but ended up dissolving into laughter when Robin tried to join him.

The bathroom door opened with a big _whoosh_ , and for a second, Steve was afraid the Russians had found them. But it was just Dustin and Erica. Steve was so relieved, he started laughing again. The look! On Dustin's face! Priceless!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunited, Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan help the others battle the Mind Flayer's monster.

When Mike told Nancy and the others about Dustin's message, she shared a worried look with Jonathan.

"Steve and Dustin went to the mall yesterday," she told the group. "There was some sort of Russian smuggling ring happening. Do we think they could still be there?"

"What if they're not?" Jonathan asked. "They could be anywhere by now."

Limping over on her injured leg, El said, "I'll find them."

"Are you sure you shouldn't be…" Nancy looked at the others, especially Mike, who looked worried out of his mind. "...resting?"

El shook her head and carefully lowered herself to the floor in front of the freezers. She blinded her eyes, took a deep breath, and went silent. Nancy held Jonathan's hand, trying her hardest not to picture Steve dead with Russian bullets in his body. 

Eventually, El said, "Movies. At the mall."

"We have to go save them," Mike insisted. Others nodded, so that became the plan.

As they returned to the car, Nancy asked Mike quietly, "Did Dustin say if he still had Steve with him? Is Steve okay?"

Mike shook his head. "I don't know. I couldn't understand most of what he was saying."

Nancy nodded, but she had to fight back tears. The not-knowing was the worst of it, and Nancy feared more than anything else that Hawkins was about to take one of her best friends. Again.

Jonathan must have noticed, because he put his arm around Nancy and squeezed. She thought about letting him drive to the mall, but that felt like giving up too much control. If she was doing _something_ , even just driving El where she needed to go, it was better than doing nothing.

From the moment they entered the mall, it was clear that there were men with guns prowling around. They were searching for someone, and Nancy thought she had a good idea whom that might be.

"Up the stairs," Jonathan hissed as one of the gunmen started getting too close. He helped Mike get Eleven to the stairwell, and then up it. Nancy watched as Eleven, even while Mike and Jonathan were practically carrying her, put out her hand and closed her eyes. Jonathan motioned everyone to duck out of sight, and Nancy put her arm out to make sure they did it.

Below them, right in the food court, a car alarm cut through the silence. Nancy jumped, putting her hands over her ears at the loud noise. El hobbled toward the edge of the balcony, despite the danger of being seen. Nancy reached for her, wanting to keep her out of the way of the very real bullets in those very real guns. She waved Nancy off, turned back, and a huge crash reverberated through the mall atrium.

El put down her hand. As a group, Nancy and the others recognized this as a sign that the danger was over. They moved forward, joining El at the balcony. Nancy searched the mall below for any sign of Steve or Dustin, and sighed with relief when she saw them both leaning out over the counter of the cookie shop.

The light was dim, but when Steve looked up, she saw his face was mottled and darker than it should have been. "He looks hurt," Nancy said to Jonathan, turning and running for the nearest staircase.

Jonathan was close on Nancy's heels, with the rest of the group following. Nancy ran up to Steve, skidding to a stop before she crashed into him and hurt him further. "Are you…?" she tried to ask.

Steve pulled Nancy into a tight hug, bringing Jonathan in a second later. "I'm so happy to see you guys. You don't even know."

Jonathan put his finger under Steve's chin, gently moving his face into what little light they had. "Whose ass do I have to kick for doing this to you?"

The possessiveness and quiet fury in Jonathan's voice made Nancy shiver. 

Steve licked his lips before replying. "Russian spies."

"You found the contraband?" Nancy asked him, pushing the hair out of Steve's face so she could get a better look at his swollen eye.

"Holy shit. He was telling the truth about you guys," said someone from behind them. Nancy turned to see Robin staring. She noticed Nancy noticing her and blinked as she looked away. Pointing across the food court and changing the subject, Robin told the others, "I don't understand what happened to that car."

"El has superpowers. She threw it with her mind," Dustin supplied with a grin. "And we didn't just find contraband. We found a gate."

As a plan coalesced, Nancy came to the sinking realization that they were going to have to split up. They were splitting up and they needed to do it in a way that took Steve away from her again.

"I don't like it either," Steve said, kissing Nancy with the side of his lip that wasn't split. "But sending two drivers with each car makes the most sense."

"You won't do anything stupid," she insisted.

"Oh, I most definitely will," Steve said with a laugh, greeting Jonathan as he came back with an arm around his back and a kiss on his mouth. "You guys be safe though, huh?"

"We'll try," Nancy told him, noticing Murray approaching with a large set of keys.

He grinned. "Well, if it isn't the famous Steve!"

Steve looked at Murray, then at Nancy and Jonathan in turn. "How does the creepy guy know my name?"

"Don't worry about it," Murray replied. He pointed to Nancy and Jonathan. "You two. I need to explain my keys."

While Nancy was trying to pay attention to Murray, she saw Hopper press another set of keys into Steve's hand and shoo him out of the building. Steve gave a sad wave, but he still left and Nancy couldn't find fault in his willingness to pitch in when the whole world was on the line.

~*~

As Steve followed Dustin's directions away from the mall, he could feel Robin staring at the side of his face. 

"What?" he asked her, only to notice Erica staring at him from the back seat too. "Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

"Maybe I'm out of my mind from all the stress," Erica said, leaning forward, "but did I see you kissing a _guy_ back there?"

"Yeah," Steve told her, really hoping he wasn't going to have to explain much to a ten-year-old. "So?"

"You're queer," Robin said, like she was in awe. Like she was discovering some long-lost treasure or something. "Like, _actually_ queer. _Proper_ queer."

"I don't…" he said, stealing glances at her while also trying to keep his eyes on the road. "I don't know what that means."

"You don't know what queer means?" Dustin asked.

"Even _I_ know what it means," said Erica. "And I'm ten."

"No, I know–" Steve gave a frustrated huff. "What do you mean by 'actually', 'properly' queer? 'Cause I'm _not_ gay." Looking over at Robin again, he got the feeling that had come out wrong. "I mean, not that there's anything wrong with that! Being gay is great! I'm just … not."

In a small voice, Robin said, "I just meant you've actually kissed a boy."

"Only the _one_ ," he assured her, like that made any difference, or would make her feel better about her lack of experience with girls. "Only Jonathan."

"You are all _very_ strange people," Erica told them.

Steve didn't have any argument for that.

After an exciting turn into a field, they got up to Dustin's radio tower and started checking in. Hopper’s team was first to check in. Then Dustin called over the radio, "Griswald Family, what's your status?"

No answer came. Each time Dustin called and each time they got no response, Steve's stomach tied itself into a tighter and tighter knot.

Finally a noise did come back over the radio, and it was straight out of Steve's nightmares. He knew what he had to do.

Steve took off down the hill.

"Where are you going?" Dustin called after him.

"To get them out of there!" Steve called back, bounding toward the car.

Robin caught up with him just as he got the engine started. Mercifully, she waited until they were back on the road before she spoke. "I'm sure your … _friends_ are fine." 

"Do you remember Barb Holland?" he asked her. "Disappeared Junior year?"

"Yes…" she said slowly. "Wasn't she killed by some gas leak?"

"No, actually," Steve told Robin, starting to feel more than a little panicked. "A monster came out of the woods behind my house and took her. It took her into the upside down and killed her."

Robin stared at him.

"It sounded a lot like the thing we just heard over the radio." Steve turned toward the mall, ignoring the red light. "So, no. You can't be sure the people I care about are going to be fine."

"Jesus," Robin said before falling silent for the few long minutes it took to get back to the mall.

Turning the corner, Steve saw the station wagon still parked at the mall entrance, and another car moving through the lot. There was a pop of a firework, then another.

Robin cried, "He's gonna hit them!" just as Steve realized the noise wasn't fireworks. Nancy was shooting at the other car!

_Billy's_ car.

And Billy's car was headed straight for Nancy, about to kill her.

Steve stepped on the gas as hard as he could, saying, "Hold on!"

The impact was jarring in a way Steve had never experienced before. For far too long, he couldn't quite gain his bearings well enough to check that Nancy hadn't been crushed in the collision. Then he saw her stand up and meet his eyes with relieved disbelief.

"Are you okay?" he asked Robin, chancing a glance over at her.

In a pitiful voice, she said, "Ask me tomorrow?"

A loud thudding sound drew Steve's attention up to the roof of the mall. There, in the moonlight, Steve saw the shadow monster's "weapon of flesh." It was somehow more horrifying than he'd imagined.

Behind him the station wagon honked and Nancy cried, "Get in."

You didn't have to tell Steve twice. He hopped in the open back hatch after Robin. As he closed the door, Steve called up to Jonathan in the driver's seat. "Go! Go! Go!"

The monster followed them away from the mall, and Steve was only able to tear his eyes away once they put some distance between themselves and it. He reached into the seat ahead of him, giving Will a one-armed hug of hello. Then he realized something.

"Where are the others?" he asked. "Max? Mike? El?"

Nancy turned in her seat. "We got separated. But if we can draw the monster away for long enough…"

"It'll die when Mom and Hop close the gate," Will finished for her.

"Guys…" Robin said in a voice that made Steve worry.

"It's slowing down," Lucas added.

"Shit," Steve said, turning to look out the back window himself. "It's turning around!"

Lucas suggested, "Maybe we wore it out?"

"I don't think so!" Jonathan cried. "Hold on!"

He slammed on the breaks before making a quick, wide turn and racing down the road back toward the monster.

"Why are we going _toward_ it?" Robin asked.

Steve didn't bother answering. Robin was smart. She'd figure it out. "What's the plan? How do we fight it?"

He watched Lucas give Will a look, which he then turned to Nancy.

"It's all we've got," Nancy said.

"Might keep it busy long enough," Jonathan added in agreement.

"Want to catch the rest of us up on the plan?" Steve cried, having no idea what anyone was talking about. 

"We stole a shit ton of fireworks," Lucas told him. "You know. Munitions."

_Fireworks_? "I suppose heat worked last time," Steve said with a pat on Will's shoulder. Will smiled.

Robin looked at Steve like he was crazy.

"We can't all group up, like at the cabin," Nancy said, looking through the windshield as they caught up to the monster. "We have to distract it as long as possible, from as many sides as possible."

"How many lighters do we have?" Steve asked. "Because I gotta warn you. The Russians took mine." His heart dropped when he realized it was the one Jonathan had given him back after the demogorgon fight. Fucking Russians!

"I didn't know you smoked," Robin said.

"I don't. I mean, haven't in a long time," Steve told her, but her confused look continued. He explained by saying, "Never know when you need to set some monsters on fire."

A horrified look crossed her face. "How many times have you had to set monsters on fire?"

"Twice," he told her.

"This'll be the third time," Lucas said, picking up a whole package full of lighters from the floor at his feet. "Don't worry. I gotcha covered. This is at least two for everyone."

"Third time…" Robin muttered.

"So, light and then throw, right?" Jonathan asked, pulling aside and then ahead of the monster.

"Gotta wait a second or two," Lucas told him. 

"Yeah," Nancy said. "Wait until the fuse gets a little shorter. We have to make sure they explode on it, and don't bounce away first."

Robin got closer to Steve and told him in a quiet voice, "I totally get what you mean by scary-hot. She's insane. All your friends are insane."

"Sometimes insane gets the job done," Steve told her. He didn't like the panicked look in her eyes, though. He guessed Russian spies and flesh monsters were probably too much for someone so new to the business to handle in such a short time. "Hey, you don't have to help if you don't want to. You can wait in the car."

Apparently her sense of pride was stronger than her fear, because her panic turned into fierce determination. "I'm not waiting in the fucking car!"

"Okay!"

They split into groups of two again – Steve was starting to get the feeling that world-saving was biased against trios – and vaulted up the mall stairs just as the monster crawled up the building. 

By the time it lowered itself down into the atrium, Nancy had her first firework lit. It hit and the monster roared, turning toward her and Jonathan.

Steve called out, "Hey, asshole!" just before tossing his firework into the meat grinder that was the monster's mouth when it turned toward him.

The air filled with the sulfur smell of the fireworks, and Steve figured it was probably better than the bloody flesh and chemical smell of the monster. 

It was going well, but though the monster was distracted, it wasn't going down. Steve got on the radio long enough to tell Dustin, "We're running out of time!"

The fireworks ran out and the smoke cleared just in time for Steve to see Billy Hargrove stop the monster from attacking El.

"Holy shit," Steve said, watching as the monster struck him again and again. As many times as Steve had imagined Billy being killed or sent away, he never would have wished for something like this.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Robin said beside Steve as Billy's body hit the floor of the food court.

That was it. They were out of options. The monster was going to get El, and who knew what would happen after _that_?

Suddenly the monster lurched. It squealed. It hit the balcony railing right in front of Steve, sending him and Robin scrambling away.

And then it fell.

~*~

Jonathan did his best to gather everyone up and get them out of the building. He felt relieved that Billy had been the only casualty, but other than that he was numb. Get the kids out. Make sure Will was still safe. Make sure Steve was still upright. Make sure Nancy was still with him.

Keep moving.

As he staggered out of the building, still half-deaf from all the fireworks, Jonathan was surprised to see the parking lot full of helicopters. He hadn't heard them coming.

And who was walking toward them but Dr. Sam Owens? Hop had mentioned he'd called for help, hadn't he?

Hopper was under the mall, in the midst of all those Russians. These were the same Russians who'd beaten Steve bloody, and Jonathan's mom was down there too.

Rushing toward Owens, Jonathan grabbed Steve with one hand and reached into his pocket with the other. He pulled out a key card he'd grabbed off one of the dead Russians – just in case.

"No time to explain," he told Owens. "Have your men follow us." To Steve, he showed the keycard and said, "The elevator."

"Right," Steve said with a decisive nod. His face was still swollen and bruised, but at least his nose didn't look like it was broken this time. Nancy caught up to them.

Owens signaled to his men before saying, "How about you explain on the way?"

Once the soldiers were loaded onto the elevator and traveling downward, Jonathan, Nancy, and Steve were shunted back to the main area of the parking lot, where ambulances were waiting.

Jonathan pushed Steve toward the one that wasn't treating El. Mike and Max were both getting head wounds checked out further down the line. The first unburdened EMT they came across took one look at Steve and whisked him away. Nancy followed, with Robin hovering nearby as well.

Jonathan went to find Will. He and Lucas were sitting together, both relatively unharmed. Just in case he'd missed something, Jonathan asked Will, "You alright?"

"Yeah," Will told him, accepting a hug. "You?"

Jonathan looked around at all the chaos. It reminded him of the school parking lot on the day they'd brought Will back from the Upside Down. Was it weird that this almost felt normal?

"I'm okay," Jonathan insisted, giving Will one last hug. "I'm just worried about Mom."

"I know what you mean."

After some time that felt endless, but was probably less than an hour, the commandos he and Steve had shown to the elevator started trickling back into the staging area.

Jonathan was sitting with Nancy, Steve, and Robin, answering all of Robin's questions, when he noticed Will stand up and start running toward someone. Jonathan stood up too, letting out a sigh when he saw Will hugging their mom. As he got closer, Jonathan saw her face and pain lanced through his chest, sharp and almost overwhelming. His head throbbed, making him realize that something was very, very wrong.

Murray trudged into view, his head hanging too.

Where was Hopper? Was he okay? Was he–

Jonathan saw El's face and he realized that he hadn't been letting himself understand the truth.

Hopper was gone.

Instead of going to Joyce, who had Will to lean on, Jonathan went to El, knowing she needed him. She just about collapsed onto Jonathan, and he staggered a step or two to keep them upright. He didn't offer her platitudes or tell her it was going to be alright. Maybe it would be eventually, but right now he figured she probably just needed help staying grounded. She needed help remembering to breathe.

"Just keep breathing," he told her, holding her close as she turned toward his chest and buried her face there. "Just stay here with me. Keep breathing. I've got you."

She didn't feel like a superhuman person who had killed monsters and people in roughly equal numbers. She felt like a little girl who'd lost her dad. She felt like a little sister Jonathan needed to protect.

Eventually, Jonathan managed to get El over to an ambulance so she could sit down. Joyce came over, pulling El into her arms and whispering, "I'm so sorry."

Will joined them, putting his hand over El's. Mike, Max, and Lucas joined them and all of a sudden, Jonathan felt superfluous. 

He gave his mother a hug and went back to the others.

"Is she okay?" Nancy asked, and Jonathan wasn't sure if she meant El or his mother.

The answer was the same for both. "No. I don't think so."

"Hopper?" Steve asked, reaching for Jonathan's hand. 

Jonathan shook his head.

"Damn."

"Yeah." 

"I was just getting used to having him around the house."

Robin broke in saying, "Wait. Hopper? Chief Hopper? How often was he at your house? And why?"

"He and Joyce were … something," Steve responded, looking to Jonathan for confirmation.

Jonathan nodded. "Together, I'm sure."

"And Joyce is your mom?" Robin asked, pointing at Jonathan.

He nodded again.

Robin asked Steve, "Why do you live in the same house as Jonathan's mom?"

Steve looked at her like she had a screw loose. Slowly he told her, "Because I live with Jonathan."

She didn't look like she appreciated Steve's tone, but she said, "Oh." Then her eyes went wider and she looked over at Jonathan. "Oh!"

Wincing, Jonathan asked Robin, "You're not going to tell anyone, are you?"

"No!" she cried, sharing a look with Steve. "I would never do that to you guys."

Steve gestured Jonathan to come closer, then whispered in his ear, "Robin likes girls."

"Oh!" Jonathan said, suddenly much less bothered by the amount of time Steve had spent in her company over the past few days. "Okay."

Robin made a noise and hit Steve's shoulder, and the two of them bickered quietly the way Jonathan recognized only close friends could.

Nancy put herself under Jonathan's arm and yawned. "When do you think they'll let us go home?"

"You live with them too?" Robin asked, and Jonathan got the feeling that she was stuck in some sort of information overload.

"Not officially," Nancy said.

She didn't tell Robin about how the three of them only really slept well when they were together. Jonathan was glad she didn't. That was too private to share with someone they'd really just met.

Still, Jonathan could tell Steve liked her as a friend. He was used to having lots of friends, only realizing over the last year or so that most of the people he'd considered friends really weren't. Jonathan was happy for him to have someone again, even if he didn't really understand it.

Jonathan had Steve and Nancy. He had his mom and Will. Who else did he really need?

But Jonathan had long ago realized that he and Steve were different. Jonathan wouldn't be like Steve's parents and try to control who Steve befriended. He would just take comfort in the way Steve always rolled toward him in the night, holding Jonathan close.

Who knew what tomorrow would bring? Hopper was gone. Steve had been mere seconds from being murdered by Russians with guns. Nancy had almost been crushed by Billy's car.

Jonathan knew better than to waste the chances he'd been given.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and commenting! Be sure to subscribe to the series so you get all the updates! There's much, much more of this series to go!


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